Dinner Lab – August 2015

While visiting New Orleans this past Spring, I was introduced to Dinner Lab – a unique experience for all of those food lovers out in the real world.

The idea is to be a member of their local branch and sign up to attend one-of-a-kind dinners throughout the year. You get a brief introduction to the guest chef and menu ahead of time but don’t find out specific details {…like, the location!} until 24 hours beforehand. The adventurist in me loves this part!

This happened to be my 3rd DL event but first one featured on ESJ.

Set in an empty office space 27 floors above Boston’s Financial District, I was loving every bit of it already!

With great views of my favorite city…

…everywhere you turned.

Inside was more of a blank space with white floors, white walls, white tables and chairs. A bar. And a DJ. Really though, what more do you need?

After a cocktail hour of sipping on a fruity sangria with about 100 of my newest friends, it was time to get the dinner party started!

Chef Alex Garfinkelgreeted us to introduce everyone to his menu for the evening. Inspired by his travels in Spain, various culinary experiences and seasonal, locally sourced foods, it sounded like it was going to be a night full of new flavors…I couldn’t wait!

I found parts of this to be delicious and others to be unnecessary…like the garnish.

The eggs and mushrooms had similar textures, as did the crispy chorizo and chickpeas. With a bit more flavor and texture diversity, it has the potential to be a nice dish. {…but let’s be real, anything with an egg…and chorizo…yum.}

Unfortunately, this was my least favorite dish.When I read short ribs on a menu, I automatically think of braised, melt in your mouth, deliciousness. That just wasn’t the case. This beef was more of a carpaccio, raw, and anything but tender.

The carrot butter, celery root and raisins together were absolutely divine, however. I also enjoyed the red wine that accompanied this…this dish worked very well, beef aside.

The cake was moist and flavorful. I found the cremeux and blood orange fluff to be delightful and made sure to get every last bit of both! The almond tuille was a bit stale but still tasted great.

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All in all, it was another fun adventure with Dinner Lab! Although I wish had enjoyed the food a bit more, I loved the new dishes and flavors that I was exposed to and able to try. Can’t wait for the next event!